Homeschooling With Little Ones
As if homeschooling weren't daunting enough, having pre-school age kids in the mix can complicate things. They need their diaper changed or help on the potty right in the middle of Algebra. They need to be nursed or fed a snack as you are reading out loud about the Declaration of Independence.They fight, they fall down and get hurt, they want your attention, and they get into things.
As much as we moms would like our school day to be an uninterrupted block of time, where we get through all the subjects seamlessly and finish all we had planned for the day, it does not happen that frequently when we have little ones. And it shouldn't. To expect our little ones to sit placidly while we are doing important stuff with the older kids is unrealistic, and we need to stop pressuring ourselves and our kids to conform to this model.
That's not to say we shouldn't strive for order and regularity and a dependable schedule in our homes. We should. But at the same time, we need to let go of our housekeeping and our desire for control a bit. Little kids are messy. They make noise. They need us. But how to find the balance?
I have always had pre-K kids under foot while homeschooling. Some were easier than others. One would come over to the dining room table where we were working and scream as loud as she could just to get attention. Some would get into diaper cream and powder and smear it gleefully all over the carpet in their room, while we were doing school. I had one kid run off down the street, unbeknownst to the rest of us, and brought back by a kindly neighbor. One of my babies spent her entire first year of life screaming in pain from acid reflux. I could go on, but you get the picture.
Let's face it, for most of us homeschooling moms, our days are not going to run as planned when we have little ones. But whatever we do get done is way more than what our kids would be doing at school. The time spent at home is far more valuable to our children, even if they do no school, than time away from mom and stuck in a classroom.
(Dads, you are in this too, so here is how you can help)
So, what to do? How do we keep our kids busy and out of trouble while we are working with the older kids? Every child is different and every household is unique, but here are some things I have done in the past 13 years:
1. Let my kids just play. They don't have to listen in on what we are doing (although they really are, it just doesn't look like it). I make sure they have plenty of age appropriate toys to play with, and if possible, I send them outside. I locked the rooms that I didn't want them getting into and gave them the run of the rest of the house. When I had babies, I just held them, nursed them and rocked them while doing school with the older kids. I put off the hard subjects until the baby was napping.
2. For some kids, I had a special box of toys that they could play with only during school time. Then, I changed it up once in while to "new" stuff to play with. I paid attention to what they really liked to do, such as coloring, legos, dolls, etc, and made sure they had those items at hand to keep them busy.
3. Weather permitting, I would send them outside to blow off energy before or while attempting to do hard subjects, so that they would be able to be quiet for a while.
4. Boys. I can't stress enough how much they need to be moving, climbing, building, digging, running and conquering. They generally need this way more than girls, but too many times we moms expect our little boys to sit still and do school at 4 and 5. I did not do kindergarten for any of my boys; I just let them play that year away. When they started school at 6, we jumped into 1st grade, and they had no problems.
5. I let the kids listen to a lot of books on tape, rather than read aloud. I love reading aloud, but recorded books were a huge help to me. I could spend time with the baby while the older kids were doing their school work without me. Sometimes I would let an older kid read to a younger one as well. It reinforced the older kid's reading aloud skills, and kept the younger one occupied while I did something else. I also pushed the kids to do more school work on their own as they got older, freeing up some time for me.
6. Most importantly, I just cut myself some slack and stuck with the basic subjects during years of intense mothering. I can't do it all! But my older kids are great students, and my oldest is making straight A's her first year of college, so I am reassured that it works out in the end. And it will for you, too.
7. If you've just had a baby or are having one right in the middle of schooling, take a few weeks or a month off and let the older kids play and help you recover in any way they can. I have done this a few times, and it all worked out OK. Just enjoy your baby!
I am looking at about 15 more years of schooling and my youngest is 3. More kids are unlikely at this point in my life (I'm ancient) so in a few short years I will have no more pre-schoolers in the house. My younger kids will get a different education than my older kids did, and that's just the way it is.
Homeschooling is so much more than academics. In fact, I would say that academics are not nearly as important as the lifestyle I have chosen. Family life, God, serving one another and our neighbors rank pretty high as well.
Moms, it's hard to school your kids with little ones, so keep it simple. You get done what you get done. Leave the rest for tomorrow.
As much as we moms would like our school day to be an uninterrupted block of time, where we get through all the subjects seamlessly and finish all we had planned for the day, it does not happen that frequently when we have little ones. And it shouldn't. To expect our little ones to sit placidly while we are doing important stuff with the older kids is unrealistic, and we need to stop pressuring ourselves and our kids to conform to this model.
That's not to say we shouldn't strive for order and regularity and a dependable schedule in our homes. We should. But at the same time, we need to let go of our housekeeping and our desire for control a bit. Little kids are messy. They make noise. They need us. But how to find the balance?
I have always had pre-K kids under foot while homeschooling. Some were easier than others. One would come over to the dining room table where we were working and scream as loud as she could just to get attention. Some would get into diaper cream and powder and smear it gleefully all over the carpet in their room, while we were doing school. I had one kid run off down the street, unbeknownst to the rest of us, and brought back by a kindly neighbor. One of my babies spent her entire first year of life screaming in pain from acid reflux. I could go on, but you get the picture.
Let's face it, for most of us homeschooling moms, our days are not going to run as planned when we have little ones. But whatever we do get done is way more than what our kids would be doing at school. The time spent at home is far more valuable to our children, even if they do no school, than time away from mom and stuck in a classroom.
(Dads, you are in this too, so here is how you can help)
So, what to do? How do we keep our kids busy and out of trouble while we are working with the older kids? Every child is different and every household is unique, but here are some things I have done in the past 13 years:
1. Let my kids just play. They don't have to listen in on what we are doing (although they really are, it just doesn't look like it). I make sure they have plenty of age appropriate toys to play with, and if possible, I send them outside. I locked the rooms that I didn't want them getting into and gave them the run of the rest of the house. When I had babies, I just held them, nursed them and rocked them while doing school with the older kids. I put off the hard subjects until the baby was napping.
2. For some kids, I had a special box of toys that they could play with only during school time. Then, I changed it up once in while to "new" stuff to play with. I paid attention to what they really liked to do, such as coloring, legos, dolls, etc, and made sure they had those items at hand to keep them busy.
3. Weather permitting, I would send them outside to blow off energy before or while attempting to do hard subjects, so that they would be able to be quiet for a while.
4. Boys. I can't stress enough how much they need to be moving, climbing, building, digging, running and conquering. They generally need this way more than girls, but too many times we moms expect our little boys to sit still and do school at 4 and 5. I did not do kindergarten for any of my boys; I just let them play that year away. When they started school at 6, we jumped into 1st grade, and they had no problems.
5. I let the kids listen to a lot of books on tape, rather than read aloud. I love reading aloud, but recorded books were a huge help to me. I could spend time with the baby while the older kids were doing their school work without me. Sometimes I would let an older kid read to a younger one as well. It reinforced the older kid's reading aloud skills, and kept the younger one occupied while I did something else. I also pushed the kids to do more school work on their own as they got older, freeing up some time for me.
6. Most importantly, I just cut myself some slack and stuck with the basic subjects during years of intense mothering. I can't do it all! But my older kids are great students, and my oldest is making straight A's her first year of college, so I am reassured that it works out in the end. And it will for you, too.
7. If you've just had a baby or are having one right in the middle of schooling, take a few weeks or a month off and let the older kids play and help you recover in any way they can. I have done this a few times, and it all worked out OK. Just enjoy your baby!
I am looking at about 15 more years of schooling and my youngest is 3. More kids are unlikely at this point in my life (I'm ancient) so in a few short years I will have no more pre-schoolers in the house. My younger kids will get a different education than my older kids did, and that's just the way it is.
Homeschooling is so much more than academics. In fact, I would say that academics are not nearly as important as the lifestyle I have chosen. Family life, God, serving one another and our neighbors rank pretty high as well.
Moms, it's hard to school your kids with little ones, so keep it simple. You get done what you get done. Leave the rest for tomorrow.
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